Former U.S. President and U-M Alumnus Gerald Ford (right) and
former Sen. George McGovern were among those featured in a sold-out
conference Sept. 26 on "The Trouble with Washington," held at the
Gerald Ford Library on North Campus. Other participants included
former Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin, ABC News political
analyst Hal Bruno, former Ford Administration official James Cannon,
U.S. Sen. William Cohen, Reagan Administration officials Ken
Duberstein and Lyn Nofziger, former House Speaker Thomas Foley,
Common Cause Chairman Edward Cabot, former House Republican leader
Robert Michel, Times Mirror columnist James Pinkerton, Time Magazine
columnist Hugh Sidey, former Republican National Committee chairwoman
Mary Louise Smith, Republican consultant Robert Teeter, and Detroit
News Washington Bureau correspondent Richard Willing.

Panelists and audience members offered theories, explanations, and
educated guesses for what Daniel Boorstin described as the democratic
paradox of Americans' confidence in their form of government but with
a long-standing distrust of those who govern them.

McGovern chose the conference to publicly thank President Ford for
an act of kindness that occurred 21 years earlier. McGovern recalled
how his outspoken criticism of the American involvement in the
Vietnam War had led to a 10-year period during which he was not
invited to the White House. In April 1975 President Ford invited
McGovern to a small evening dinner at the White House. McGovern said
he has never forgotten that gesture. The former senator and 1972
presidential candidate said more of the kind of old fashioned decency
that was shown by Ford would help change the hostility many Americans
have toward Washington.